Samuel Spring - Marriage and Later Work

Marriage and Later Work

Reverend Spring returned to Newburyport and married Hannah Hopkins, his mentor's daughter November 4, 1779. He was a founder of the Massachusetts Missionary Society in 1779 and of the Andover Theological Seminary in 1808. He was very influential in a fundamentalist wing of the Congregational Church and many of his sermons and discourses were printed and widely disseminated. John Quincy Adams was one of many who disagreed with Spring's teachings; Adams wrote that Spring's views were "extremely contracted and illiberal" and that he had the "enthusiasm of a bigot". Spring maintained contacts with Uxbridge.

He and his wife had 11 children, although several died young:

  1. Margaret Stoddard Spring was born April 26, 1783. In August 1807 she married Bezaleel Taft, Jr., a politician from Uxbridge. She died on July 25, 1816, and her windower married her cousin Hannah Spring.
  2. Gardiner Spring was born February 24, 1785, and became an influential minister in his own right.
  3. Hannah Spring was born September 6, 1788 and died March 16, 1796.
  4. Walton Spring was born September 15, 1790 and died May 8, 1809.
  5. Samuel Spring Jr. was born March 9, 1792, graduated from Yale University in 1811, married Lydia Maria Norton, and had 9 children.
  6. Lewis Spring was born October 20, 1793, and was lost at sea in 1815.
  7. Mary Spring was born November 12, 1795, and died August 30, 1796.
  8. Pickney Spring was born July 19, 1798 and died in 1820.
  9. Charles A. Spring was born July 25, 1800, and married Dorothy B. Norton. He became an influential figure in Presbyterianism in Illinois and Iowa.
  10. Captain John Hopkins Spring was born September 21, 1802, marry Sarah Ann Rand, and had 6 children.

Samuel Spring died March 4, 1819 in Newburyport.

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